Benchmarks exhibit lackluster trade in early deals

Key domestic benchmarks have made a lackluster start for new F&O series losing some ground in early morning trade on Friday, with the Sensex and Nifty losing their crucial 5,700 (Nifty) and 18,750 (Sensex) levels amid weakness in other Asian markets. All the regional peers were trading in the negative trajectory at this point of time as investors kept a wary eye on corporate earnings results under way, worried about the outlook for corporate performance as the region's exporters struggle against shrinking global demand. Though, the US markets showed slight pullback on Thursday, the session remained listless but the stocks eked out some gains on the back of few positive economic data, new applications for jobless claims dropped 23,000 to 369,000, showing hiring outpacing layoffs and US durable goods orders rose more than expected in September.

Back home, the traders remained on the sidelines ahead of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) monetary policy meet slated to be announced on October 30, 2012. Meanwhile, the downside remain capped as some amount of support came in after government clearing the sale of 10% stake in iron ore giant NMDC besides allowing a ministerial panel to look at options other than auction. The finance ministry is hopeful of raising Rs 12,000-13,000 crore from stake sale in the public sector undertakings by December-end, which could help the government to rein in fiscal deficit. Aviation sector too aided the sentiments stocks like Spicejet, Jet Air India and Kingfisher Airlines all edged higher after aviation minister Ajit Singh, reversing an earlier decision and ending a long-running dispute between the government and local airlines, has allowed domestic carriers to establish their own ground-handling units at India’s six metro airports.

On the sectoral front, auto witnessed the maximum gain in trade followed by consumer durables and realty while, healthcare, oil and gas and technology remained the top losers on the BSE sectoral space. The broader indices too were struggling to get traction and were trading mixed at this point of time while, the market breadth on the BSE was negative; there were 734 shares on the gaining side against 766 shares on the losing side while 85 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex opened at 18,715.35; about 43 points lower compared to its previous closing of 18,758.63, and has touched a high and a low of 18,729.53 and 18,660.26 respectively.

The index is currently trading at 18,687.59, down by 71.04 points or 0.38%. There were 6 stocks advancing against 24 declines on the index.

The overall market breadth has made a negative start with 46.31% stocks advancing against 48.33% declines. The broader indices were trading mixed with BSE Mid cap rose 0.10% while, Small cap index declined 0.04%.

The few gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Auto up by 0.38%, CD up by 0.13% and Realty up by 0.09%. While, HC down by 0.63%, Oil and Gas down by 0.55%, TECk down by 0.51%, FMCG down by 0.47% and IT down by 0.42% were the top losers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were M&M up by 1.92%, ICICI Bank up by 0.84%, Sterlite Industries up by 0.70%, Tata Motors up by 0.42% and HUL up by 0.26%.

On the flip side, ITC was down by 1.11%, Wipro was down by 1.07%, RIL was down by 1.04%, Bharti Airtel was down by 0.95% and Jindal Steel was down by 0.93% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, in a bid to bring back the Indian economy on the growth track, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has urged the public sector units’ (PSU) honchos to invest and grow, and set the pace for India's growth in the process, during the meeting on Tuesday. Singh’s meet with PSU heads was held in the backdrop of declining domestic growth.

The PSU chiefs listed their major concerns including the most prominent one - to speed up project clearances. Also, the PSUs face issues like lack of autonomy, inability to invest which are closely connected. The Prime Minister advised the PSUs, with profits of almost Rs 1 lakh crore and accounting for 6% of GDP, to withdraw their cash surplus out of the banks and invest them in new projects. This would escalate India’s position as an attractive investment destination.

The public sector companies’ project clearance suffers many more delays than their private sector counterparts. However, according to PM, government is resolving this issue through National Investment Board (NIB). Owing to the opposition from the environment ministry, the NIB is yet to commence its operations. Finance minister P Chidambaram, who was also part of the delegation led by PM, stressed on the need to cut subsidies and push ahead with reforms.

The S&P CNX Nifty opened at 5,683.55; about 32 points lower compared to its previous closing of 5,705.30 and has touched a high and a low of 5,697.20 and 5,675.65 respectively.

The index is currently trading at 5,683.05, down by 22.25 points or 0.39%. There were 18 stocks advancing against 32 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were M&M up by 1.87%, ICICI Bank up by 0.79%, IDFC up by 0.67%, Cairn up by 0.60% and HCL Tech up by 0.55%.

On the flip side, JP Associates down by 1.99%, Kotak Bank down by 1.48%, ITC down by 1.20%, RIL down by 1.11% and Reliance Infra down by 1.10%, were the major losers on the index.

All the Asian equity indices were trading in the red; Shanghai Composite plunged by 26.30 points or 1.25% to 2,115.82, Hang Seng lost 141.79 points or 0.65% to 21,668.44, Nikkei 225 declined by 12.84 points or 0.14% to 9,042.36, Kospi Composite fell by 21.18 points or 1.12% to 1,903.03 and Taiwan Weighted was down by 70.08 points or 0.94% to 7,196.67.

Indonesian Jakarta Composite, Malaysia’s KLSE Composite and Singapore’s Straits Times remain closed on account of public holiday.